Husted, Republicans open to better process - next time

Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch

Thursday

Sep 29, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2011 at 9:45 AM

As the state Apportionment Board finished new state legislative maps yesterday, Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that he and Republican legislative leaders have agreed to consider a constitutional amendment that could end the hyperpartisan process of drawing political districts in 2021 and beyond.

As the state Apportionment Board finished new state legislative maps yesterday, Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that he and Republican legislative leaders have agreed to consider a constitutional amendment that could end the hyperpartisan process of drawing political districts in 2021 and beyond.

Husted for years has advocated changing the system of drawing political boundaries, which, he says, produces maps that lead to sharply divided, partisan government.

“I am not naive about this,” Husted said. “There are plenty of partisans who will say they are for it and then figure out a way to throw marbles under the feet of the people that are trying to change this. But I think people are tired of the way government works.”

Husted’s remarks came as the Apportionment Board voted 4-1 to approve new House and Senate legislative maps, after making a handful of changes mostly to districts in eastern and southeastern Ohio. House Minority Leader Armond Budish of Beachwood, the only Democrat on the panel, voted no. Budish said the map reduces competitive districts.

“The majority map was crafted under a shroud of secrecy, with no public input and no input from the minority party,” he said. “I know we’re in a period of hyperpartisanship. But these maps ... will only make things worse.”

Under the new House map, 51 of 99 seats lean strongly Republican and 10 more lean Republican, based on a political index developed by the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting. In the Senate, Republicans hold an advantage in 21 of 33 seats.

As a Republican state senator, Husted tried to change the process last session, proposing that a new bipartisan panel draw both congressional and legislative districts. It passed the Senate but got hung up in the gridlock of last session, when the Republican Senate and Democratic House set a modern record for legislative inactivity.

Critics have traditionally complained that the ruling party — this time Republicans — gerrymander uncompetitive legislative and congressional districts that will secure power at the Statehouse and hand the ruling party an unnaturally large number of seats for such a politically even state.

The Apportionment Board, run by the party that controls two of three offices — auditor, governor and secretary of state — draws state House and Senate districts every 10 years to match new census figures. The legislature, with approval from the governor, draws the new congressional map.

Republican legislative leaders have made no promises to pass a proposed constitutional amendment on redistricting, but they say they will give it a fair shake. Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Fairlawn, has expressed interest in it.

“Senate Republicans passed a reform plan in the last General Assembly,” Niehaus said. “ Unfortunately, the Democrats in the House chose not to support that plan, so we were left with the same process.”

Niehaus said there is time to do it this session. “A lot will depend on the interest of the members.”

LaRose said he has had hallway conversations with a number of senators in both parties. “There is a pretty universal recognition that we have to perfect the process,” he said, noting that he plans to partner with Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, because “anything we do will have to be thoroughly bipartisan.”

“I think the end result would be more-competitive districts and less of an advantage for the side holding the pen,” LaRose said.

Democrats have said that House Republicans also would not get behind a final plan last session.

“I’m willing to work with Secretary Husted to make possible changes,” said Budish, who has argued the Republican-approved map does not meet constitutional requirements.

Republicans disagree.

Republican state Auditor Dave Yost also said he is backing Husted’s effort.

Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, would be happy to work with Husted on his proposal, spokesman Mike Dittoe said.

Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, which has pushed for years for a process that produces maps that are more compact and more competitive, said she is “guardedly hopeful.”

“It’s hard to look at these maps and be hopeful for a process that is better, yet Jon Husted laid out some light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.

Gov. John Kasich signed the new congressional map into law on Monday. It gives Republicans a potential 12-4 majority in Ohio’s delegation.

“I don’t think there’s any lock on any map,” he said yesterday. “It depends on the quality of the candidates, the message and what people are talking about.”

Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern yesterday asked the Ohio Supreme Court to rule on whether Republicans can block a referendum of the congressional map by attaching a $2.75 million budget appropriation to the bill.

Dispatch reporter Alex Stuckey contributed to this story.

jsiegel@dispatch.com

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